Heineken’s third-quarter trading update released today reveals that its UK business has maintained its growth run despite the tough trading conditions.
Total volumes in the country increased “slightly” with beer growing “mid-single digit”. However, the brewer highlighted that its premium beer portfolio grew “high-single digit”, led by its Heineken and Birra Moretti brands.
The Heineken group’s total beer volumes rose by 2.3% on an organic basis to 64.2 million in the July-September period, driven by double digit growth (13.9%) in the Asia-Pacific market. Volume growth of its Heineken brand accelerated to 7.4%.
Overall beers volumes grew 1.6% in Europe, against expectations of a decline. Robust performance in the UK, France and Italy offset falls in the Netherlands and Poland due to tough weather-related comparables.
However, there was an unexpected 0.5% dip in sales in the Americas, with a sharp decline in the US and a slight fall in Brazil.
The world’s second-largest brewer is now forecasting that its operating profit this year will come in at the lower end of its previous guidance. Operating profit before one-offs is expected to rise by around 4% on a like-for-like basis in 2019, down slightly on the original mid-single-digit figure.
Heineken today reported that its net profit for the first nine months of 2019 had risen 4.4% to €1.67bn.
CEO Jean-François van Boxmeer highlighted that the group’s beer portfolio had delivered “solid” volume growth in the context of a challenging comparison with the good summer weather last year.
He added: “We are seeing increased volatility across a number of our markets, which we assume to continue for the rest of the year. We continue to invest for the long term benefit of all our stakeholders. We expect to grow operating profit organically around 4%.”
